Kayla and I appeared before the judge again this morning regarding our adoption process of Cohen.  Our lawyer is attempting to speed up the process rather than waiting for another year+ to complete the abandoment/adoption procedure.  After all, as our lawyer says, "You've had him long enough; it should be obvious he is a part of your family!"  The continuing hindrance we are facing is that Jose (Cohen's "father") will not appear before the judge and provide his testimony to assure the judge he is asking us to adopt his son.  The judge, while on our side, is still very weary of finalizing the abandoment/adoption of Cohen because the practice of trading children on the black market continues to be an issue in Peru.  As testament to this concern the judge has asked us to handprint and footprint Cohen and then provide these same prints from his birth in order to ensure (on paper) the child we have is the same we have been attempting to adopt since last year.  Yes, it sounds silly, but the judge has to be sure (which, while a semi-frustrating inconvenience, is reassuring as we know the judge is attempting to follow the letter of the law and leave no opportunity for anyone to question the validity of our adoption) and thus this is the phase we are in. 

 

Jose's appearance is not required but if we can get him to provide testimony stating he wants us to adopt Cohen the process may move much faster.  If not, we may have to wait until August of next year to have the adoption finalized.  The judge in our case wants to move forward but at the same time is very concerned about appearances.  Corruption runs so rampant in Peru that I have to appreciate her (the judge's) sentiments and the lengths to which she is going to ensure the validity of our case.  Drawn out it is, but clear it will be once finished. 

 

In other news, we continue our ministry in Chivay/Ichupampa.  I've decided we should focus on Ichupampa and the asilo (old folks home) for the time being, and have also decided we need to seriously explore the possibility of living in Chivay full time (3 weeks a month) in order to establish our presence there.  I leave the details up to God, but at this moment I'm confident we will be living there sometime next year.  I may be wrong, of course, but I think that is where we are meant to be.